MG Motor ZS review

6

Compact SUV offers lots of practicality, outstanding value for money, and an electrified ‘feel’ without the charging

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The growth of the MG brand in the UK has been so fast over the past five years that it has outstripped the rate at which the car maker has been able to spread its wings.

There are many market segments in which MG remains unrepresented, so having spent 2024 renewing its established line-up, the next few years will be about plugging gaps in the firm’s showroom range. But given that it is already one of the UK’s 10 most popular car brands – in 2024 outselling Peugeot, Skoda, Renault and even one-time favourite UK Vauxhall – who knows where that process could take it.

The old ZS’s electric version won’t be directly replaced. A new electric-only compact SUV – related to the MG 4 – will succeed it in 2025.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

Times have changed, clearly, since the days when MG could grab handfuls of market share by introducing value EVs, and its biggest-selling model currently is the plug-in hybrid HS SUV.

But this test focuses on the smaller MG ZS compact crossover SUV, launched in second-generation form last summer, and available exclusively with hybrid power.

 

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DESIGN & STYLING

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MG ZS panning

MG Motor UK is shifting its product strategy with this car. While the previous generation could be had as either a petrol model or an EV, this one shares both its platform and petrol-electric hybrid powertrain with the smaller MG 3 supermini.

The new ZS lifts a product positioning tactic well proven by other budget brands by straddling segments. You could say that, stretching beyond 4.4 metres in length, this car now sits between the B- and C-SUV segments. Hybrid power makes it a natural rival for the Dacia Duster Hybrid, Toyota Yaris Cross, Renault Captur E-Tech and new Vauxhall Frontera Hybrid, though it carries a significant price advantage over even those cars.

The slim, low-level rear foglight is quite neatly integrated into the lower bumper, so as to appear only when illuminated, but it does seem prone to accident damage.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The ZS rides on a strut-type suspension at the front and a torsion beam at the rear, and is front-wheel drive only – all very class-typical.

MG’s Hybrid+ powertrain does bestow quite a lot of on-paper power and torque on the car, however. It’s an innovative arrangement comprised of a 101bhp 1.5-litre four-cylinder Atkinson cycle petrol engine that can drive the front wheels via a three-speed planetary automatic gearbox, in tandem with a 134bhp electric motor. Much of the time, however, the electric motor does the driving all by itself, the piston engine working purely to power the 60bhp starter-generator supplying current into the high-voltage electrical system. High-voltage energy storage is in a nickel-manganese-cobalt battery of a little under 2kWh of total capacity located under the back seats.

The electric drive motor might be considered powerful enough for a car like this all on its own, of course, were it an EV. As it is, the ZS Hybrid+ has a total system output of 195bhp – and, weighing 1422kg on our scales, it’s also probably about 200kg lighter than an equivalent EV might be.

INTERIOR

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MG ZS dash

The effort being made by MG to lift the interior quality of its latest generation of models is readily apparent. That effort achieves the desired effect a little inconsistently in the ZS, and sometimes only superficially; but it’s noticeable all the same.

The ambience of our quite dark upper-tier Trophy test car was lifted a little by chrome fixtures on the door cards, upper dash and centre console. Faux-leather mouldings are used on the upper fascia, and they’re a bit shiny and unconvincing, but the tactile quality of the cabin is higher generally, and its faux-leather front seats are acceptably appealing and comfortable. They had electrical adjustment in our test car but lacked any cushion angle or extension adjustment. A matching absence of reach adjustment on the steering column made taller drivers less at home than they might have been.

If you’re going to offer keyless entry and locking on a car like this, including a physical button on the handle (rather than a capacitive ‘zone’) to activate it, somehow reassuring you that it actually works, seems a wise move.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

There’s a sizeable, 12.3in touchscreen infotainment console as standard, as well as a fully digital instrument display. The latter goes a little too far with its arcade video game-like graphics for the sake of easy readability. Digital-style tacho and speedo instruments are given only minor prominence on either side of a suspiciously stylised central trip computer-cum-multimedia display, which has an annoying habit of automatically returning to its (rather pointless) ADAS display mode on the motorway, overriding any preference for more useful information. Given the complexity of the car’s powertrain, this driver’s binnacle could select, arrange and display its information much better, and with notably better hierarchy.

Likewise, the neighbouring infotainment screen isn’t the easiest to navigate (there’s plenty of physical switchgear and a column of shortcuts, but none seems to take you directly to where you intend), and will only mirror your smartphone via a wired (and now outmoded) USB-A cable.

Space in the second row is good by class standards – especially generous for head room, and accommodating enough for adults on leg room. In the boot, there’s plenty of carrying space for a small family car, and a useful height-adjustable false floor with extra storage space underneath.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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MG ZS rear tracking

If only to deliver the response you expect, and unlike some other hybrids, the ZS’s combustion engine always turns over when you press the starter button, and then runs quietly at low revs and speeds. But once it’s warm it takes every opportunity to shut down.

It quickly becomes apparent that, even when running, the engine isn’t connected to the wheels in any way – not at urban speeds, at any rate. Even in Sport driving mode, the ZS Hybrid+ behaves like a range-extender EV (think Vauxhall Ampera or BMW i3 REx) around town, being driven smoothly, crisply and in linear fashion by the electric motor, and using its engine to power the starter-generator at fairly constant crankspeeds, which, depending on load, seem to vary from about 1300-2000rpm.

Rarely will the car travel for more than around half a mile on electric power alone, and yet it’s striking how alike an EV the ZS can seem, even with that quiet-running four-pot helping to supply the necessary voltage for keener acceleration.

Once you pass about 45mph, the ZS’s prevailing operating mode changes, and that piston engine and three-speed gearbox connect to the front wheels to bolster the car’s reserves. Under part-throttle, it happens very smoothly so that you wouldn’t really know any difference; but under full power it comes with more of a sudden surge.

In outright terms, then, and as our test results show, the ZS Hybrid+ has plenty of performance and easy drivability, although the former does depend a little on there being charge in the drive battery; which is typically maintained well in normal driving – but which a fairly short period of intensive accelerating and hard braking can certainly deplete, rendering the car much slower.

RIDE & HANDLING

6

The MG ZS is a car with no greater dynamic ambition, clearly, than to cover the bases, to do nothing badly and to avoid standing out for the wrong reasons. With a few minor demerits, it gets fairly close to hitting that mark, as modest as it may be.

The suspension grants a medium-soft low-speed ride, allied to a fairly assured sort of body control that keeps the car’s mass in check, and its cabin settled, at speed. The steering ranges from feeling a little light and over-assisted at low speeds to a bit leaden out of town, though it isn’t a bugbear.

There’s an edge of fidgeting woodenness and clunkiness to the secondary ride, which suggests that more care could have been taken with the damper tuning, but, again, it’s not enough to offend.

Grip levels on the standard-fit Giti tyres aren’t especially high and suggest efficiency ranked quite a lot higher than outright roadholding on MG’s list of dynamic priorities. Thankfully, the ZS’s electronic traction and stability controls work well with the adhesion levels granted by them, and the car is pleasant and competent enough to drive across the speed range.

Assisted driving - 2.5 stars

Unlike rival budget brands, MG clearly wants to over-deliver for the money with its standard-fit ADAS features. For as little as £21,995, you’re getting a car with adaptive and intelligent cruise control, as well as active lane keeping assistance, driver monitoring, AEB and even hill descent control.

More’s the pity, then, that they are systems you will be reaching to quickly deactivate in many cases (and MG doesn’t make this as easy as it could). The speed limit detection is prone to missing changes in the posted limit, and the speeding buzzer is annoyingly persistent.

The lane keeping system does have a steering wheel button for activation, mercifully. Leave it on and it’s quite pedantic about specific lane positioning, even on the motorway, and intrudes on the steering all too frequently.

Happily, the adaptive cruise control works less obtrusively, and the driver monitoring system isn’t especially annoying.

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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MG ZS front tracking

The ZS Hybrid+’s £21,995 entry price makes it more than £1500 cheaper than an equivalent Vauxhall Frontera and £2000 cheaper than a Dacia Duster Hybrid, with a gulf in price up to alternatives from Toyota, Honda and Suzuki. Given it’s also quite a big car by class standards, the ZS’s metal-for-the-money value could hardly be more convincing.

Like full hybrids in general, it delivers more convincing economy in town than out of it. An average test economy result of a little under 50mpg is nothing special, and yet our testing suggests the car will return better than 60mpg in low-speed urban running – and does especially well if you’re prepared to keep demand on the 12V circuit low (running with the HVAC off, for example), allowing the engine to shut down for longer periods.

VERDICT

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MG ZS front static

Alongside the smaller 3 supermini, the MG ZS Hybrid+ represents an interesting shift in thinking for MG.

Recent years have allowed the firm to carve out a following among retail buyers who want to make their money go further, on a car to suit real-world priorities. A good hybrid powertrain is a natural fit for such an audience – and being undemanding, broadly well mannered and efficient in the right circumstances, the ZS’s certainly counts as one. The car’s dynamic standards are merely adequate, but it’s roomy and well equipped, and escapes a cut-price flavour in at least some areas.

As a rational prospect, then, the MG ZS is now a car with clear and undeniable selling points. Despite the best efforts of its hybrid system, the driving experience still isn’t really one of them; but neither is it a reason to avoid.

 

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.